So long, farewell: Last of the Trapp Family Singers dies

Feb. 23, 2014
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This July 25, 2008 photo shows Maria von Trapp, daughter of Austrian Baron Georg von Trapp, smiling during a press conference at the Villa Trapp in Salzburg, Austria. The last surviving member of the famous Trapp Family Singers made famous in ?The Sound of Music? died this week at her home in Vermont. She was 99. / Kerstin Joensson, AP

by Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY

by Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY

So long, farewell to Maria von Trapp, the last surviving member of the Trapp Family Singers made famous in The Sound of Music. She died Tuesday, at age 99, at her home in Vermont.

"She was a lovely woman who was one of the few truly good people," her brother Johannes von Trapp said. "There wasn't a mean or miserable bone in her body. I think everyone who knew her would agree with that."

In 1938, the family escaped from Nazi-occupied Austria and performed concert tours throughout Europe and then a three-month tour in America.

Their story was turned into the film and Broadway musical The Sound of Music. It tells the story of an Austrian woman who married a widower with seven children and teaches them music.

Maria von Trapp was the second-eldest daughter and was portrayed as Louisa in The Sound of Music.

The family moved to Vermont in 1942 and they still operate a lodge in Stowe, Vt.